Welcome to Mommy Mondays, my designated day to discuss all things parenthood. Sometimes the topic is very specific, like pediatricians or car seats, and other times I fill this space with random musings about my daughter and her soon-to-be brother.
There have been two times in Pigtail's short life when I have felt like the switch flipped. When either she took a huge developmental leap or I, her hormonally-challenged mother, crossed a certain threshold.
The first was at nine months. Maybe it just took that long for my post-partum fog to clear, but one day last summer I woke up and fell in love with her like it was the first day of her life. She went from being a dependent infant to a true little person overnight and I felt like our connection strengthened tenfold.
Recently it has happened again. She is going through a verbal explosion, common for this age, and her strong personality is asserting itself in hilarious ways and not yet in the difficult ones that are surely on their way. Lately I've enjoyed spending time with my daughter on a whole new level. A huge part of it is her ability to communicate. I couldn't pinpoint it at the time, but spending hours upon hours with just an infant can be very isolating. Interacting with Pigtail in a real way has taken away much of the guesswork and is the beginning of a companionship.
I always thought I was a baby person, but my affection for my daughter has deepened and become so enjoyable as she's gotten older.
The baby boy I'm growing inside has, thankfully, eased up on the vomit button. I am finally, finally, starting to feel like myself again and not like a ball of crazy. I'm still very tired, and often forget about my current limitations until I've overexerted myself, but overall I'm hopeful that I'm entering that blissful time in the middle of the pregnancy between So Sick and Tight Puffy.
This second pregnancy continues to differ from my first. I'm a couple of years older and this time I'm chasing a toddler, but my body is creaking around like a geriatric. My back has been giving me all sort of pains and twinges, something I never experienced with Pigtail, and I have periods of high anxiety, something I did experience with Pigtail. The Gorilla claims I'm already waddling and groaning all over the house.
But no matter what he says, or how loud I moan, I feel an acute sense of happiness in our little family right now. I'm (hopefully) through the sickness misery and we already have a sense of the little person that will be joining out family in October. I want to soak up this summer as a family of three. I want to nest and pray and prepare as much as I can over the coming months. This will always be a season I'll remember.
